Ghosts Are Not Real
by JaggedHands
Summary: Fin and Carisi tries to scare Amanda saying that ghosts are real but payback is a bitch!
1. Chapter 1

Ghosts Are Not Real.

"There are no such things as ghosts, Carisi." Amanda stated firmly as she carried a cup of coffee back to her desk and sat down. "They're just stories you tell kids so they'll behave or make sure they'll stay out of places you don't want them to go near. Didn't your mother ever threaten you with a ghost story?"

Her partner frowned and looked at her like she had just grown three heads. "No, if I was told to stay away from a place then I'd stay away. There was never a need for a ghost story but that doesn't mean that they're not real."

The blonde snorted in disbelief. "So you were the perfect little boy growing up? Always listened to your mother, uh?"

Carisi shrugged awkwardly and glanced towards where Fin was sitting and listening to the two detectives with an interest. "I wasn't always well behaved. I had my moments." he stated, trying to prove that he wasn't mommy's little boy and that he could in fact put his foot down and be a bit of a rebel.

"Still do." Fin interrupted while folding his arms across his chest, grinning slightly at the youngest squad member.

Amanda chuckled at her colleague's joke and took a sip of her badly brewed precinct coffee. "This tastes like crap. It should be against the law to drink this stuff." she muttered and took another gulp.

"And you still drink it." Carisi said and sat down on the edge of Amanda's desk.

"It's the only coffee here. I can't run out to get a cup every time I get a craving for caffeine. I'd get nothing done."

"You still don't." Fin mentioned and now it was Carisi's turn to chuckle. Amanda wrinkled an empty sheet of paper into a ball and threw it at him, satesfied when she hit him in the shoulder and the paper ball rolled across the floor and landed in a corner.

They all laughed and fell into a comfortable silence, each detective focused on their paperwork before Fin finally spoke up, his voice low and serious. "There's a ghost right here in this station. I've seen him myself a couple of times upstairs in the cribs."

Carisi raised his eyebrows and Amanda chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah sure, and look..." she pointed towards the small coffee area that they all shared, "there he is, making himself a cup of coffee. Ask him if he wants cream and sugar, Fin. It's only polite."

The African American detective kept his stoic face and folded his hands together, resting them on his desk top. "I'm serious. Long before I started working here a detective hung himself upstairs where the cribs are now located. The room was once used as a storage area because it wasn't insulated back then. He stayed late one night and when all his coworkers had gone home for the evening, he went upstairs, closed the door and hung himself from one of the beams in the ceiling. The cleaner found him the next morning, his face ashen, body stiff as an iron rod, his tongue dangling from his mouth and his eyes popping out of his skull. The cleaner quit her job the same day."

Amanda rolled her eyes but couldn't help to let a shiver run down her spine. Carisi looked pale and sweaty, his eyes scanning the room from corner to corner. "What's the matter, Carisi? You look like you've seen a ghost." the blonde snickered at her own joke as she began organizing her case files that were lying in a pile in front of her.

"Very funny, Rollins." he said, slightly annoyed at his partner for making fun of him in his current state. "There's always some truth behind old stories and legends like these. It's what carried them from generation to generation in the first place."

"Don't tell me you believe him, Carisi? It's just a story." Amanda pointed out and dismissed the whole stupid idea with a wave of her hand. "By the way, why are you both still here? I'm the only one who has like a whole Mount Everest of paperwork to finish. Now scoot, I need my peace and quiet."

Fin sighed and stood up. "You're right, I'm off. I'll see you tomorrow, Rollins. Carisi, you coming?" he grabbed his coat and approached the younger man who still looked a bit pasty.

"Y... yeah." he stuttered, gathered his belongings and very eagerly left the building, like he couldn't get out fast enough. Amanda snorted and shook her head, a smile edged her lips as she thought of how easy it was to wind Carisi up.

Sipping her coffee she got back to her enormous pile of files and sighed. "This could take a while." she muttered and dug into the first one lying on top of the stack.

It was nearly elven pm. The room as quiet, since she was the only one left, the gloomy light from the lamp on her desk only gave her enough vision of a four feet radius and the temperature was beginning to drop outside which made it significantly cooler inside. She always kept a spare jumper in her locker and decided that now was a good time to use it. She turned the light on in the ceiling and fiddled with the lock until it finally popped open.

She instantly felt the warmth sooth her as she wrapped her thick wholly cardigan over her shoulders. Heading back towards her desk, something suddenly made her stop. A noise, but from where she couldn't tell. Shaking her head to clear it she simply pushed the thought away, thinking she was just hearing things because of what Fin had told her just a little while ago. "Get it together, Rollins." she mumbled and sat back down in her chair.

Ten minutes later her whole body suddenly jolted. There it was again! That noise! The same noise she thought she had heard just a few minutes ago. It was a faint but a solid thump and it came from upstairs. She knew she wasn't imagining things. She did hear it. She was certain of it. Her hearbeat picked up speed and within just s couple of seconds she could feel herself beginning to perspirate.

Even though she was now sweating, the tought of discarding her jumper was out of the question. It privided her with some sort of comfort and safety-ness, almost like an armour or a shield to keep enemies and possible threats at bay.

Pulling the jumper closer to her body she shivered as the hair on her neck stood up. She was glad that the full light in the ceiling was on so she had a full view of the bullpen in a clear light. "No such thing as ghosts." she told herself and resumed with her paperwork. Her ears, once again, picked up a strange sound coming from the floor above her. It almost sounded like...? _No, it can't be? I'm totaly losing it!_ She thought to herself but couldn't quite shake the feeling that someone, or something, was upstairs creating these noises, these sounds, these... these Footsteps? _Get a grip!_

Then it suddenly occurred to her that it must be the guys trying to scare the living crap out of her. She saw them leave but they must've somehow gotten back in without her seeing it and they were now yanking her chain and doing a pretty good job too. Then again, more footsteps followed by a faint bang.

Groaning, she stood up and made her way to the bottom of the stairs, turning on the light before taking the first step. While slowly climbing the steep staircase she reached for her gun that was securely holstered on her right hip and held it out before her to protect herself from whatever she needed protection from. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her breathing short and shallow and the sweat glistening on her forehead and upper lip. She was scared but would never admit it to the guys. If this was their doing they would pay for it.

Her body froze as she heard a weak moan coming from behind the door leading to the cribs. _Of course!_ Amanda rolled her eyes. That's where the alleged man hung himself and her colleagues were obviously in there making sounds and noises to make her believe that it was the work of the ghost Fin had been telling her about.

She placed her ear against the door and listened. There was nothing but silence now. No banging, no footsteps and no other unexplained noises could be heard from inside the room. If they were in there Amanda decided to catch them in the act, hoping to scare them in the process. She stepped away from the door, braced herself before forcefully kicking it open, gun still in hand, eyes frantically scanning the dark room. "Got ya!" she stated when she saw a dark figure sitting on one of the bunks in the far corner. Quickly she turned on the light to get a better view and was surprised and confused by what she saw.

"Liv?" she gasped, immediately lowering her gun and put it back in it's holster. "Wh... what... why are..." she shook her head to clear it, leaned back against the wall for support, rested her hands on her knees and panted, feeling her heart beat slowly resuming it's normal speed.

"Amanda?!" Liv had quickly turned around to see who had just barged in the door and was just as surrised. "What's going on? You okay?" she got up and made her way to the slightly distressed blonde and placed a warm hand on her upper arm.

"I... I heard a bang and then footsteps and I though... I thought that... Fin said that there's..."

"A ghost haunting the place? Yeah, I've heard that one before." she chuckled, crunched down a bit to met Amanda's blue eyes. "You okay? Come on, let's sit down for a while."

Liv led her to the bunk she had just been sitting on and brushed blonde hair away from a clammy forehead. "He got to you too, didn't he?" she smiled and shook her head. "He told the same story to a detective that started here a few years back. He never worked lates again after hearing the tale of the hanging man. He doesn't work here anymore though, he got transferred." Liv looked at Amanda with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry I gave you a freight, hon." she placed an arm around her shoulders and felt the other woman shudder underneath her touch. "Oh, sweets, you're shaking. I'm so sorry. I fell asleep and I... um, I actually fell out of bed and then I accidentally bumped my baby toe against the leg of the bed." she admitted, a bit embarrassed for her clumsy behaviour. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to scare you." she soothed.

Amanda shrugged and smiled nervously. "You didn't. I mean, you did but you didn't." Liv raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I thought that Fin and Carisi were playing a prank on me. I just... wasn't expecting to see you here. And I don't believe in ghosts, by the way." she quickly added, not wanting her boss to think that she actually believed in that stuff. "I mean, usually there's a scientific explanation for strange things happening, right? Like shadows, noises, UFOs..." she chuckled. "I mean, who believes in that kind of stuff? It's all so... unrealistic if you ask me but..."

"Amanda," Liv finally interrupted with a faint smile. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" grinning, she rubbed Amanda's back gently. "It's okay, you know. I won't tell anyone that you got scared."

"I wasn't. I mean... I'm not. I just... you know, thought that someone had... I don't know, broken in or that the guys were... were..." her shoulders slumped in defeat and she sighed. "Yeah, I got scared."

Chuckling, Liv squeezed her shoulder gently. "Well, as I said, I won't tell anyone if you promise not to tell the guys I fell out of bed. I would never hear the end of it."

Amanda nodded her head in agreement. "You've got my word, sarge."

They both fell into a comfortable silence in the poor lit room before Olivia broke it. "What do you say we play our own little prank on the boys, ugh?"

Amanda's face lit up like a child on christmas eve. "Paybacks are a bitch!" she said, grinning from ear to ear.


	2. Chapter 2

Ghosts Are Not Real

"I don't think I've ever been this tired in my whole life." Carisi yawned and stretched his legs out underneath his desk. It had been a long day for everyone at the precinct but, unfortunately for the two male detectives, it wasn't over yet. "Rollins, would you do my paperwork for me and I'll cook you dinner every day next week?"

Snorting at his request Amanda switched her computer off. "Yeah, and I'll get stuck cleaning up the mess you make when you show off your culinary art skills? No thanks." she stood up and grabbed her purse. "Nice try though." she smirked and headed down the corridor to the elevator.

"Pssst! Rollins!?" the blonde stopped as she heard her name being mentioned and saw her boss secretly hiding in one of the supply closets. "Get in here."

Amanda turned her head to see if anyone was watching but the coast was clear and she quickly scurried into the small room. "It's a nice spot you picked, sergeant. Kind of cozy." she wiggled her eyebrows and snickered.

Liv slapped her arm playfully. "You wish!" the older woman chuckled and closed the door. "I have an idea. You ready for payback, Rollins?" Liv had that playful but devious glimmer in her eye and the corner of her lips turned to an evil grin.

"You bet I am. What did you have in mind?"

"Maybe if you had offered two weeks of cooking and cleaning up she would've agreed." Fin stated while his head was burried in folders and files, catching up on the past weeks work.

"No one says no to Sonny's cooking. I've never had a woman turning down my food before."

"Until now." Fin muttered, not bothering to lift his head to make eye contact with his coworker. "There's a first for everything, Carisi. Don't take it too personal."

"I just don't understand!" he raised his arms into the air to indicate that he had no clue what so ever why a woman would turn his excellent home made cooking down. It made no sense to him and it made him confused and puzzled. "Am I losing my touch?"

"Shut up and finish your papers. The quicker you get it done, the quicker you get to go home and wallow in your sadness."

Carisi frowned. "I'm not sad, I'm hurt."

"Same thing, now get it done so we can get out of this joint." the senior detective snarled back at his partner, getting more frustrated by the second.

Sighing, Carisi sat up straight and dug into his own massive pile of files. Suddenly, all the lights went out, the stationary phones died and the heating switched itself off, leaving the room dark and dead silent you could hear a needle drop. "What the... what happened?" Carisi questioned, shock evident in his slightly shaky voice.

"Well, except for the obvious, there must be something going on with the fuse box. I'll check it out. You got a flashlight?" Fin asked as he fumbled his way towards Carisi's desk.

"Yeah, in my back pocket." the youger Italian man responded sarcastically.

Fin grunted, fished around in his pocket for his phone and used the light from the screen to guide him. "I'll be right back."

Carisi immediately stood up. "What! You can't leave me here."

Fin frowned and looked at his partner's clearly petrified facial expression. "What? You afraid of the boogeyman?" he chuckled.

"You... you said it yourself. A ma killed himself upstairs. I'm not hanging around here while you go off checking things out. I might be dead by the time you get back, or worse."

"What's worse than dying? Come on, man up will ya! I'll be back in a a few minutes. If anything were to happen, you have your gun, right?"

Carisi stuttered before he could manage to squeeze out anything audible and understandable at all. "A... a gun is not gonna work on a... on a ghost." silence. "Fin?" the silence continued. "FIN?"

"Oh my god, this is awesome, Liv. It actually looks like a real person." Amanda whispered as her eyes wandered over the fake man hanging from the ceiling in awe. "Wow, I can feel the goosebumps on my skin already. He looks really scary." the blonde shivered from the lack of warmth, since the heating was not on, the drop in temperature was significantly dropping.

"It took me a while but it's gonna be so worth it. I found and old shirt, a pair of pants, a pillow case as the head and some old cushions to use for stuffing the clothes. I think I did pretty damn good." she stated with satisfaction.

"I'm really impressed, Liv. Couldn't have done i better myself. Now, let's make some noise."

"Fin? Where the hell are you man?" Carisi felt his heart thump against his chest and he had started to break out in a cold sweat. "Fin, it ain't funny anymore! Fin!?"

"Boo!" Fin whispered in his ear, causing the young man to jump to the side with a shriek.

"Come on, man! That's not cool!"

Fin chuckled and laid a hand on his partner's shoulder for support. "Sorry, but I couldn't help it. The fuse box is acting up. I don't know why it's not working. I guess we should just call it a night." as they walked back towards their desks Fin stopped and sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose. "Did you by any chance let out a SBV?"

Carisi looked confused. "What's a SBV?"

"Silent But Violent."

The young detective still looked puzzled and Fin sighed. "A smelly fart, dude! A stinky winky, pass gas, flatulence, a ripper, whatever you wanna call it."

It suddenly dawned on Carisi what Fin was talking about and he blushed slightly. "Well, I... I have a very sensitive stomach and when I'm stressed or under a lot of pressure or..."

"Scared?" Fin interrupted with a smirk, still wrinkling his nose due to the lingering smell.

"Or scared, yes." Carisi finally stated, a bit embarrassed for letting one slip in the presence of his colleague. "Sorry." he mumbled and followed Fin back to the pullpen to gather their belongings together. Then, a loud bang pierced the silent room and Carisi instantly jumped high into the air and quickly scurried over to Fin's right hand side, pressing his body into his.

"Get off me, man! It's probably just a rat or something. Maybe the pipes are making noises. Get a grip, don't be such a pussy."

Reluctantly Carisi took a small step back, slightly ashamed for reacting the way he did. "Must be one hell of a rat to make that much noise. It came from upstairs, from the cribs. What if... what if it's the... the hanging man? The ghost you told us about? He's here!"

The young Italian man was clearly in an upset state of mind but Fin just snorted, amused by his partners irrational fears. "Come on, you actually believed that story? It's not real Carisi. I was just trying to scare Rollins. It's not true."

Just as Fin finished his sentence, the loud bang reappeared but with a greater force than the last, followed by some kind of a hissing noise. "Then what the hell was that?" Carisi said in a shaky voice, taking a step closer to Fin, who didn't seem to mind this time. "Is that a rat too?"

Even Fin jumped at the unexpected sound this time and, out of instinct, grabbed his gun. "I'm gonna check it out. Wait here." he said, gun ready in hand as he slowly made his way to the stairs.

"Hell no." Carisi stated and quickly got behind his partner, grabbing onto his shirt from behind.

"Let go of me, man. Don't push it. Just stay behind me if you're so scared. It's probably nothing anyway." Fin whispered, not wanting to admit that he was quite puzzled and bewildered as to what was creating the banging noise. Or who?

Slowly and as quietly as they could they climbed the steep steps with Carisi so close, Fin could feel him breathing down his neck. They stopped just outside the door that led to the cribs, Fin bracing himself to bust the door in, ignoring Carisi's pleading words, telling him that they should just get out of there.

Just as the younger detective let out a small whimper, Fin used all his strength and kicked the door open, creating a loud bang that scared Carisi even more.

As soon as his eyes focused on the dark figure dangling from the room, Fin stiffled a scream. However, Carisi was already half way down the stairs, crying like a baby who didn't get his bottle on time and hid himself under his desk, hands covering his ears.

Fin was not far behind and ran down the stairs, almost tripping over his own feet a few times, gun still in hand ready to fight off any threat that might come his way. He stopped in the middle of the bullpen, holding his gun out and did a 360. "Show yourself!" he yelled, sweat dripping down his temples and back, his heart pounding profusely in his ears.

Then, a few seconds later, giggles and laughter echoed through the walls and he instantly knew who they belonged to. Looking up, while lowering his gun, he saw Olivia and Amanda hunched over from laughter, staggering out the room, too caught up in the funny situation to even utter a word, holding their arms around their stomachs for support as they continued to squeal in laughter.

"Very funny." Fin stated, annoyed that he had actually fallen for the prank but also relieved that there wasn't an actual ghost trying to haunt them down.

The two female detective's fumbled their way down the wooden stairs, still roaring laughing from what they had just witnessed, wiping the tears from their cheeks as they fell. "You... you should've... seen your faces!" Amanda managed to say between fits of giggles, grabbing onto Liv's arm for support. "Well done, Liv." she chuckled.

Carisi slowly emerged from under his desk, white as a sheet and trembling like a leaf. He looked awful. "It... it was you... all along?" he questioned, wanting to get some answers. Both women nodded as they were still too busy laughing to be able to verbally respond. "Man, I fell for it." the young male detective ran a shaky hand across his face, trying to get his breathing back to normal.

"I'll turn the lights back on." Liv chuckled and made her way to the fuse box.

Amanda was wiping the last of her tears as she watched Fin taking a few deep breaths. "You okay there, Fin? You look like you've seen a ghost too." she snickered.

Grinning sarcastically, the older man holstered his gun and sighed. "You're such a comedian, Rollins but yes, I must admit that things got a bit intense towards the end. Didn't really have time to get too scared since Carisi kept whining like a baby."

"I was not whining." he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Was too." Fin said.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was n..."

"Okay, okay!" Olivia interrupted as she approached her subordinates as the lights flickered back on, leaving the room in a bright glow. Everybody's eyes turned towards Carisi's pale pasty features.

"You don't look too good, man." Fin said and took a step closer to his partner. "You okay?"

Carisi was just about to wave it off as nothing but suddenly, out of nowhere, his stomach churned, making a growling bubbling noise that caught everyone's attention. Then, half a second later, he hunched over, clutched at his stomach and bolted towards the bathroom as fast as his legs could carry him, leaving the two female detectives startled and puzzled.

"Sensitive stomach." Fin simply stated, scratching the back of his neck. A loud moan of relief could be heard from the men's bathroom stalls, followed by a muffled mumbling.

Fin frowned in slight disgust. "A very sensitive stomach."

The End


End file.
